Crossword Genius

Gold ring's left off by divorcee making overtures (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

exordia

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'overtures' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are plural nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'gold ring's left off by divorcee' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'gold' could be 'or' ('or' is the heraldic name for gold) and 'or' is found within the answer.
'by' could be 'x' (multiplication sign) and 'x' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'making' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for exordia that I've seen before include "Introductory parts" , "Starts to lecture" , "introductory material" , "Introductions" , "Parts of speech" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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